Falling For Joynoelle

By Fatima Olive

Published: March 2013

Rat Race Studios

I had never met Joy Teiken before attending her "Joynoelle Amusements in three parts" event on Wednesday night at Aria. After meeting her and seeing her work, I believe her first name is indicative of her approach to life and design.

The ready to wear collection was as sublime as it was intricate. Joy’s choice of subtle, muted shades truly emphasized the workmanship of each hand-crafted piece. I kept thinking to myself: not only could I wear that, but I would wear that!

The collection had the occasional spider (inspired by her son’s love of arachnids) subtly worked into a few pieces. My favorite of the evening was this long sleeve high neck blouse (spider inching along the cinched waist) with a long steel grey skirt. It felt like a modern take on turn of the century fashion. Joy believes “fabric draped on the body in the right way” can be incredibly sexy even though nothing is exposed. As my father would say when he tried to talk me out of wearing clothes that were too revealing: “It’s better to leave it to the imagination.”

Then it can time for Joy’s true love: wedding dresses—and the love did show! It was especially touching that the bridal section was opened by three real brides wearing the dresses Joy made for them, and even though their wedding day had come and gone, you could see how special they felt in their gowns. As for the dresses the runway models were wearing, each was unique and precious, as would be the brides who wear them. The bridal section of the show attests to Joy's ability to create something special and unique for each bride that comes to her atelier.

The evening ended with a Burlesque-style dance performance (the honeymoon part of the evening?). Profits from the event go toward supporting the Makers Coalition, "a coalition of businesses, educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and service providers coming together to build a trained cut and sew industry for the Upper Midwest."

A great event for a wonderful cause. I look forward to other events supporting Joynoelle, as well this wonderful organization she is involved in.

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From boutiques to salons to your own closet, TC Style will bring you expertly curated tips and tricks from the local shopping, fashion, beauty, wellness, and design scene. Odds are if you put it on, take it off, hang it up, or cut it out, we’ll tell you how to get it. Most importantly, we know that when you look good and feel good, you do good—the beautiful life is about much more than the material world. (But that won’t stop us from loving it.)